The present invention relates to a laminate door leaf member of a sectional overhead door, of a multiple-part door leaf adapted to be moved vertically or horizontally into a closed position or of a similar building closure.
Sectional overhead doors generally include laminate door leaf members which are adapted to be moved vertically or horizontally into a closed position, with the door leaf member comprising substantially C-shaped angled portions provided along longitudinally rims thereof and disposed so as to face an interior of an area to be closed by the overhead door. Generally reinforcing strut means, extending perpendicular to a direction of the longitudinal rims and in a direction of movement are provided at the marginal zones of the door and, also, optionally, between the marginal zones, with the reinforcing strut means stabilizing the marginal zones and/or areas therebetween. The reinforcing strut means are placed in contact with a laminate sheet-metal panel of the door leaf member.
In conventional louvered door leaf members, manufactured from thin sheet metal, lateral reinforcing struts are joined to the door leaf members by welding, with the reinforcing struts extending in a direction of movement of the door leaf member. Additionally, it is also possible to provide one or more reinforcing struts in uniform distribution along the louvered door leaf member. The welding is normally accomplished by spot welding or by a comparable welding operation by welding coins.
A disadvantage of the conventional approach resides on the fact that the areas of the sheet-metal panel and the reinforcing strut to be welded must not electrically be insulated from each other. If, for example, insulation was initially provided at the individual parts or components in the form of a primer on the laminate sheet-metal panel and/or on the reinforcing strut profiles, the insulation would subsequently have to be removed. If such removal was not undertaken, the door leaf member can only be provided with a weatherable coating and/or paint after the welding has been accomplished between the panel and the reinforcing struts.
By virtue of the position of coating and/or paint only after the welding, a further disadvantage resides in the fact that there is an interruption in the manufacturing process and it is hardly possible to provide the corner zones and hidden surfaces which occur after the welding operation between the welded-together parts around the spot weld with an adequately secured coat of paint or to protect such areas against rusting.
Moreover, laminate metal sheets, joined only in a spot welded fashion with the reinforcing struts, tend to develop considerable noise when exposed to wind and especially during the movement thereof.
The aim underlying the present invention essentially resides in providing a door leaf member of the aforementioned type which is substantially simpler in construction and is protected with a substantially greater resistance against environmental influecnes as well as a door leaf member which develops less noise.
In accordance with the advantageous features of the present invention, adhesive means are provided for securing the reinforcing strut means in a contact zone of the reinforcing strut means at an inside or interior surface of the laminate sheet-metal panel. Connection means are provided at opposite ends of the reinforcing strut means for providing a shape meeting connection at a front face of edges of the C-shaped angled portions, with the connection means including lug-projections extending in a front face thereof over the edges of the C-shaped angled portions and being adapted to engage without any substantial play into one of openings provided in the edges of the C-shaped angled portions or openings in front end sections of the reinforcing strut means, as view in a longitudinal direction of the reinforcing strut means. According to the present invention, a connection technique between the sheet-metal panel and the reinforcing struts results in the components, combined into a dimensionally stable door leaf member, namely, the sheet-metal panel and the reinforcing strut means, being joined after the laminate sheet-metal panel has been finished by coating, baking of the paint or by some other surface treatment.
In the same manner, the reinforcing strut means can be made available with their surface being protected prior to joining the same with the laminate sheet-metal panel. The profiled struts preferably includes substantially U-shaped profile members which are cut to a desired length. In this connection, preferably galvanized sheets are utilized and, in the event that cut edges remain unprotected, this is not of any considerable significance since any rust developing at such location would not impair the ruggedness of the reinforcing strut means and would not be apparent from the exterior.
The reinforcing strut means with a complete surface treatment are glued to the laminate sheet-metal panel of the door leaf member in a flat fashion so that a firm bond is achieved. This gluing bond is limited to the inner surface of the sheet-metal panel lying in the door leaf plane. The C-shaped angled portions defining the sheet-metal panel vertically to the direction of movement of the door leaf are not included in this glue bond. Due to the thin metal sheet employed, the dimensional stability of this angled portion is minor. For this reason, the reinforcing struts are joined in a shape-mating fashion, with end sections projecting in their longitudinal extension, to the edges of the angled portion lying in the door leaf plane in such a manner that, an already present surface treatment, coating, paint cover, or the like, does not interfere. The end sections of the reinforcing struts extend in parallel position over the insides of the edges of the C-shaped angled portion and are connected in this zone to the edges by lug-type projections extending vertically to the direction of movement of the door provided at one of the mutually contacting components. The lug-type projections engage into an opening provided in the other component and extend behind the rim of the opening extending approximately vertically to the direction of movement of the door. In this connection, the play between the projections and the opening is maintained small in the door leaf movement direction so that the mutual spacings of the rims of the upper and of the lower development of the sheet-metal panel is fixed via the reinforcing struts.
Preferably, the reinforcing struts provided in the two marginal zones of the sheet-metal panel, extending in the direction of movement of the door leaf, are equipped with a covering forming a reinforcing profile, with the covering preferably being pushed onto the door leaf member from the side, namely while grasping the respective lateral reinforcing strut and the marginal zone of the sheet-metal panel glued thereto. The reinforcing profile preferably extends over the entire length of the respective marginal zone of the door leaf member and thus over the end sections of the reinforcing strut and, consequently, also over the regions of the edges of the lower and upper C-shaped development of the sheet-metal panel located at that point. In the overlapping zone, a mating tab is punched out in such a way that it projects, after having been bent away, into the opening already engaged by the two projections. The dimensioning is such that the width of the mating tab punched free into the direction of movement of the door leaf is approximately the distance between the two projections engaging into the opening.
In this manner, the reinforcing profile is securely held with approximately no play against shifting laterally with respect to the direction of movement of the door, and thus cannot be removed from its pushed-on position and/or from the grasping mounting.
This already shape-mating connection between the sheet-metal panel and the reinforcing struts and/or additionally the reinforcing profile is further firmly secured for the door operation by virtue of the fact that respectively on both sides of the opening and/or of the projections 22, bores 22 are provided which are arranged in alignment in the end sections of the reinforcing struts and the edges of the C-shaped developments of the sheet-metal panel. A reinforcing profile arranged along the edge has bores located in corresponding alignment, with the threaded bolts being passed through these bores. Insofar as a longitudinal rim of the door leaf member, extending transversely to the direction of movement of the door leaf, is followed by the longitudinal edge of a subsequently arranged door leaf member, the screws additionally pass through bores that are in corresponding alignment and are provided in fittings of threads which hingedly join the successive door leaf members in this zone.
In order to minimize if not avoid generation of noise as far as possible and/or to damp the transfer of noise between the sheet-metal panel and the reinforcing struts, the layer of adhesive is preferably provided with a certain thickness. The adhesive is permanently elastic, i.e. even after "hardening", it is still elastically resilient in a certain way. Thereby, an additional, special contribution is made toward the prevention of noise generation.
The above another objects, features, and advantages of present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for the purpose of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.